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The only access was by boat. The name Alcatraz means Pelican or strange bird. The reason it was named that was because when it was being built it had a lot of strange birds on it. It was built in 1933 as a federal maximum security prison. But prior to Alcatraz being built it had been a military prison and before that an Indian Reservation. There have been several famous inmates who served time at Alcatraz. A short list would include Al Capone, George "Machine Gun" Kelly and Robert "Birdman" Stroud. Al Capone was convicted of mass murder after ordering his gang of mobsters to gun down 9 members of a rival mobster family execution style. It was said to be the most brutal mass murder in history. He was held at Cook County Jail in Chicago until arrangements could be made for his transfer to Atlanta. On May 4, 1932 he started his prison sentence there. It was not until August of 1934 that he was transferred to Alcatraz. He spent 4 1/2 years there. It wasn’t an easy time for "Big Al". He got in a fight with another prisoner and was put in isolation for eight days. He was also stabbed with a pair of shears while he was getting his hair cut. After being diagnosed with a terminal disease in 1938, he was transferred to Terminal Island Prison in Southern California to serve out the remainder of his sentence. He was released in November of 1939 and died in his Palm Beach Mansion on January 25, 1947. George "Machine Gun" Kelly got his name by waving around a machine gun, threatening to blow everybody’s head off if they didn’t do what he said. His federal conviction was for kidnapping and ransom demands. He plotted to kidnap a wealthy oil tycoon named Charles Urschel. He and his wife Kathryn stormed into Urschels house during a game of bridge and kidnapped Urschel and one of his friends. Neither of the hostages would admit to being Urschel, and so after searching for some kind of ID on both of the men, Kelly was finally able to find him. The other man was released unharmed and Urschel was taken to a ranch in Texas and held for $200,000 ransom. The ransom was paid and Urschel was then released unharmed. After that the Kelly’s lived lavishly moving from state to state and disguising their identities. It was not until September of 1933 that they were captured while visiting a friend in Memphis. Kelly arrived at Alcatraz in Sept. of 1934. He was among one of the first groups of prisoners to serve time there. Although he always boasted about what a bad guy he was, the warden considered him to be a model prisoner. Kelly spent 17 years at Alcatraz. In 1951 he returned to Leavenworth and then died of a heart attack 3 years later. Robert "Birdman" Stroud was convicted of brutally murdering a bartender. He was sentenced to McNeil Island, a Federal Penitentiary in Washington State. He was considered to be a very violent man who was difficult to manage. He was accused of viciously assaulting workers at the prison and stabbing inmates for what he wanted. Because of this behavior he was transferred to Leavenworth in Kansas. Shortly after being moved he stabbed a prison guard to death for refusing to allow his brother to visit. This resulted in his being charged with first-degree murder and death by hanging. He spent the next 30 years at Leavenworth, and during that time developed an interest in canaries. Through those years he was allowed to breed and take care of nearly 300 birds. In 1942 he was transferred to Alcatraz. He spent 17 years there. In 1959 he was transferred to the Medical Center for Federal prisoners and died on November 21, 1963. In Alcatraz, you as a prisoner have four rights: Food, Clothing, Shelter and Medical care. You could get some privileges such as working, family visits or visiting the prison library. You could also do recreational activities like painting or playing music. And if you were an exceptional prisoner you might earn the chance to leave Alcatraz and go to another prison. Although no one has ever escaped from Alcatraz, 13 attempts were made and caught, 6 attempts were shot and killed and 2 men drowned on the 1 mile swim. 5 men are still listed as missing or drowned. Nobody ever escaped from Alcatraz, or maybe they did. In conclusion, Alcatraz was a very strong prison where an inmate who attempted escape had to be very sneaky and very skilled. In order to escape he would have to evade the watch tower and then swim the mile of very frigid turbulent water to get to the mainland. Once on the mainland he would have to hide from the police. In 1963 Alcatraz closed due to an earthquake, and because it was just too expensive to repair and maintain. Bibliography: world book 2001 Word Count: 901
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